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One Sentence Previews: 2022 NCAA Indoor Championships Women's 5000 Meters (D1)

  • Writer: Maura Beattie
    Maura Beattie
  • Mar 9, 2022
  • 3 min read

Additional contributions by Garrett Zatlin


1. Courtney Wayment (BYU)

The BYU women have listed Wayment as a member of their DMR team, but we think her priority is going to be the 5k, an event where she is the somewhat clear favorite thanks to her extensive experience and long history of national-level success.


2. Kelsey Chmiel (NC State)

This 10k runner has shown us that she has some encouraging mile speed which, in theory, should bode well for either a sit-and-kick race or a hard-from-the-gun affair.


3. Maddy Denner (Notre Dame)

We didn’t see much of Denner during the indoor season and although she ran 15:27 after a remarkable cross country season, her performance at the ACC Indoor Championships leaves us scratching our heads as to what the status of this Notre Dame runner is.


4. Adva Cohen (New Mexico)

Cohen clearly has the necessary experience to compete for top finish in this field, but her season as a whole has left us wanting more and it has left us wondering how she will fare on the national stage.


5. Alexandra Hays (NC State)

Hays may have the most momentum heading into the national meet when you consider that she has run personal best marks in four out of her five races this season and has nothing to lose in this race thanks to also being nationally qualified in the 3000 meters.


6. Lauren Gregory (Arkansas)

Gregory is arguably the most experienced runner in this field and she can seemingly handle any race scenario thrown at her, something that she has proven in past national meets.


7. Mercy Chelangat (Alabama)

Chelangat will be making her indoor national meet debut after cruising to a predictable 15:34 mark earlier this winter, but will she try to handle a crowded field or will she take the race out and hope no one tries to hang on?


8. Emily Covert (Colorado)

It’s not too often that someone shaves 34 seconds off of their previous 5k mark, but that’s what Covert did this season, immediately getting her name thrown into the podium conversation thanks to the promising momentum that she has built over the last few seasons.


9. Ruby Smee (San Francisco)

Smee hasn’t slowed down, literally, since she jumped onto the scene during cross country and after showing some encouraging consistency this winter, Smee will now aim to prove that her 15:36 mark makes her a legitimate All-American threat.


10. Jenna Magness (Michigan State)

Magness is the top returner from the 2021 indoor national meet after finishing 7th and since then, she’s raced like a true veteran, finishing no worse than runner-up in any of her races this winter.


11. Kayley DeLay (Yale)

DeLay had a respectable winter season, competing three times at Boston University and running as many personal bests, but nothing on her resume has matched the caliber of 15:36 performance from back in December, leaving us to wonder if the Yale veteran can put together another postseason stunner like she did at the cross country national meet.


12. Haley Herberg (Washington)

Washington’s long distance ace has had a respectable indoor season thus far, running all of her races on her home track, but Herberg's front-running tendencies can sometimes be risky.


13. Emma Heckel (New Mexico)

After redshirting her freshman year at Rice University before transferring to New Mexico, Heckel has worked her way up the national leaderboard and is on the path to pick up her second All-American honor, although her latest efforts at the Mountain West Championships left us wanting more.


14. Gracelyn Larkin (New Mexico)

Larkin might not have the fastest personal best in the field with her mark of 15:41, but she knows how to show up at national meets -- just look at her two top-25 finishes at the most recent NCAA XC Championships.


15. Katelyn Tuohy (NC State)

The 5k will only be Tuohy’s third race of the indoor season after a long in-season hiatus, but the NC State phenom has done similar things at other points in her young career and has come out on the other side with All-American honors.


16. Amelia Mazza-Downie (New Mexico)

Mazza-Downie has proven that she is a nationally competitive distance talent, but the New Mexico standout is aiming to deliver on expectations after being less than 20 spots away from All-American honors in her last two cross country national meets and one spot away from being a 5k All-American last spring.


Final Predictions:

  1. Courtney Wayment (BYU)

  2. Mercy Chelangat (Alabama)

  3. Kelsey Chmiel (NC State)

  4. Emily Covert (Colorado)

  5. Lauren Gregory (Arkansas)

  6. Jenna Magness (Michigan State)

  7. Katelyn Tuohy (NC State)

  8. Maddy Denner (Notre Dame)

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